Search This Blog

Of animals and inspiration

Today I'm going to blog about a trip I took with friends to the Delhi zoo. It's unusual for me to blog about something of this sort. Most of my posts concern 'head matters'. This one, for a change, is something outside my head. It is, moreover, about the outside influencing the inside. The inside is so important.

The Delhi zoo, to tell you the truth, is not that grand. Nothing like what you see on Animal Planet and the Discovery channel or National Geographic. As we started our little 'trek' around the zoo all we saw initially were deer of all kinds. It seems there are many types of deer like there are many types of human beings. To me a deer is a deer and it is a not very exciting thing to remember all the different names of the different types. I guess I'm as bad with deer names as I am with human names. I almost asked "Why the need for these many types of deer? Why the trouble?" and I realized it was like asking "Why the need for these many types of human beings? Why the trouble?", so I thought it better to keep my mouth shut.

And then we saw antelopes. I don't know how many kinds there are. It is such a pain to remember. What I know is they are all beautiful in one way or another. The Creator is one of great detail. And you can see everything has been done with so much care. Honestly, it's overwhelming.

Seeing the next one got me excited. It was the closest I had gotten to any of the animals at the zoo till then. I'm sorry, I didn't bother to read what the label said, or perhaps there was no label. I didn't check. But it is a big buffalo for sure.

Anyway, I guess I could go on talking about the many animals I saw but that would take up too much space. So I'll highlight the ones that had the greatest impact on me.

When I saw the lion I just couldn't help noticing the grace with which he did whatever he did. The way he sat, the way he looked at us, the way he moved, just about everything was so graceful. He wasn't the grandest lion ever, to tell you the truth, with the sad condition of his mane and all but he was enough to make me want to keep standing there for maybe a few more minutes. What if we humans were this graceful all the time, no matter how our "looks" are?

The white tiger. Such beauty and elegance. And I thought these creatures are at their best in reflecting the glory of their Creator. They don't complain about their looks (actually, that'd be quite an invalid complain considering how beautiful they are), they don't worry about what they are going to do with their lives. They just live. Do what they are created to do. And this is their act of worship. Their Creator gets maximum glory because they simply live the purpose they have been created for. They reflect the beauty of their Creator. They don't think about it too much. They just do. And that's awesome.

The jaguars almost killed me with their beauty. And the roar. Grandness! I just kept looking, and I just kept clicking. No words.

Now I don't want to start questioning about whether they should be kept in cages at all, whether they should be confined like these zoo animals are, if it's right or if it's wrong. I suppose cages and confinement because it's a zoo. But then they belong to the wild. So this question is a little complicated for me to opine about like I understand everything. I don't understand many things.

But I behold the beauty of all these animals. I behold the beauty of their Creator. And it gives me joy to see all this beauty that I can't understand. And it fills my heart with worship for the Creator of it all.